Aku no Hana is now the lowest rated TV series in the entire MAL database. This is getting pretty hilarious.

It's sad that so many people judge that show only based on appearances because in every other way, it is competently made. The soundtrack is great, the backgrounds are good, the pacing is just fine and the writing is good. It's just not a bad show.

I wonder what's going to happen next. If the japanese side seemingly has the same reaction as the american side, you've gotta think that some of the higher-ups in the production team are going to be mad. I hope the director and the animation don't suffer any consequences from this, because they definitely have talent.

Its especially sad because most likely they are judging it off of one screen shot that makes the main female lead look significantly uglier than she actually is.

I don't see anything wrong with it. Originally it was just a set of novels that had artistic realism for the cover art.

And yeah, after they decided to make an anime out of it, they know that CURRENT new sales of the novels are going to be primarily from people watching the anime. So they updated the covers to draw attention to them.

I agree comparing novels to manga is a bit of a folly. Novels are pretty much entirely words so there is no set art style for them, let alone panel conscription or other visual cues that define manga as a visual medium while novels are not. Manga have an art style, and usually anime tries to capture it and be as faithful to it as they can to respect the original work. Even down to having lots of scenes being 1:1 shots of the panels which I think is pretty awesome because panel lay out is important to a series and its fun seeing panels from the manga in the anime.

Though, admittedly, there are times where newer series update the look of older manga or anime series, and I'd say for the better. I would say the modern look of Gegege no Kitaro is much more pleasing to look at than the older one. Though to be fair the manga also went though a lot of art changes itself so maybe that's not the best example I could use... but the main point is Aku no Hana isn't disappointing because it's 'different', but because it looks terrible. Different can be good at times, or even better, but I think most people have spoken that this wasn't for the better and is very aesthetically disappointing.

but I think most people have spoken that this wasn't for the better and is very aesthetically disappointing.

FWIW, a strong majority of the comments for the first episode on Crunchyroll are positive about the show and its art-style, and it's actually rated at 5 stars with close to 400 votes. Maybe it's just a case where the minority of complaints are so loud and intense that the unspoken favorable majority opinion is going unnoticed?

Look, I actually am not bothered by the artstyle to write it out of the bat, but on the other hand, rotoscoping is strictly in that uncanny valley territory in terms of 'animation'. If anything, rotoscoping is arguably a more of an enhanced live action than a purely animated technique. There is a good, legitimate reason why people are irked. Not just that it 'looks ugly' but because they compromise the art of how anime is simply made: They're drawn from imagined character stylings, not etched on top of live action footage.

I'm not writing off rotoscoping entirely, but on the other hand, those who just wanted an enhanced styling of the manga (Look: Mysterious Girlfriend X), it is a pretty rude awakening to get a style nobody even asked for.

I understand and sympathize how the anime director is doing new things. That's fine and dandy. I just wished he didn't do that for this show. But that's my (and many peoples') opinion.

And finally, I'm really disturbed by how people are saying making dark anime, this way of using rotoscoping is the only way to make an anime dark. I EXPLICITLY disagree. Case in point, Aoi Bungaku used heavily styled anime characters to tell a realistic story of classic Japanese novels. And it it retained all the creepiness and uneasiness of the stories to a tee, with the anime styles perhaps enhancing a lot. Or look at Kemonozume, Kaiba or other shows that Masaaki Yuasa has made, some of which used extremely cutesified designs but told very dark, disturbing stories.

Again, I hold nothing against those who fully enjoy the style of Aku no Hana. But I would seriously digress that people saying it are 'just whining' or that it's only about the outward aesthetic of the show.

Who said this? If anyone actually made that argument, they're either a troll or an idiot and should be ignored or educated, as warranted.

I just find it a bit absurd that some reviewers are using the style as it stands in direct contrast to 'normal' anime styles. Sometimes that opinion is overt, sometimes it's subtle. I suppose it is fair to note a lot of people aren't drawing a line in the sand that way.

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It becomes whining when they repeat the same complaint over and over and over and over, and comment about nothing else but the outward aesthetic of the show.

Maybe if they keep it up throughout the entire season perhaps. But I don't think the complaint is entirely unwarranted. For me personally, I just wished this show didn't have this brand of drama and stigma following around because of the style. On one hand, it is unique and perhaps a bold move. On the other, it wouldn't be too unfair to say it is inbetween live action and anime and perhaps not entirely accurate to say it's an anime adaptation. At least there's the manga... even though I'm not fond of how the manga is drawn either.

Just leave him alone, he's in his right to call out to Zac's evil mastermind plan to oppress him. This, of course, is just the first step -overlooking a moe show completely on purpose to upset all moe fans-. Next thing we know, Zac may go around saying moe otaku should just be happy with whatever little pandering they get in the massive flood of fujoshi-oriented-shows that dominate the industry, because otaku don't buy anime and they shouldn't be asking for more. Especially since they're all perverts and really creepy. And because Zac and the Anti-Moe Brigade are evil masterminds, everyone but the poor oppressed otaku will become sheeple who'll follow Zac's omnipotent word all over the internet and thus otaku will become marginalized and bullied by mean reviewers on the internet and diabolic fujoshi forever and ever.

Since that's obviously what the overlooking of SNAFU means, you can't blame the guy for reacting like that.

Criticizing someone for over the top and divisive statements (specifically within the context of professional reviews) isn't revealing or showing that one has a "persecution complex"

Ok, but how about coming up with bizarre, nonsensical conspiracy theories? Like suggesting that Zac instructed or encouraged Bamboo to post incomplete info and exclude a show with moe elements from that article, just to satisfy some weird grudge. Only for Zac to later approve preview guide entries for that same show, ensuring it still got covered on ANN. Therefore, his grand scheme accomplished little beyond showcasing the fact that the anime list prepared by ANN was incomplete. Which is exactly what Zac wants, highlighting mistakes made by the site. Huh?

Does coming up with theories like that make one seen like they have a persecution complex? You're attributing to malice what is far, far, far more likely to be simple human error.

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